I’d probably smile also. He just won the ghetto lottery. Harris County (Houston) jailers decided that the Sheriff had money available to pay out a judgement in a civil rights lawsuit. This guy was chosen to be the recipient. From the Volokh Conspiracy.
http://reason.com/volokh/2019/04/02/a-right-to-smile#fold
The suspect was arrested for DWI. During booking he was subjected to the obligatory mug shot. He complied with instructions but for the shit eating grin. Jailers objected and said he couldn’t smile. They took a series of photos and the smile remained. Despite their instructions the suspected continued to grin. They finally grabbed him by the throat in an effort to wipe the grin of his face. They were unsuccessful.
It was a close run thing. His lawyer almost blew it. The original complaint alleged that jailers committed two violations. The first, was that the jailers interfered with his first amendment right to free expression. The court was not impressed. As an afterthought, the second complain involved the excessive use of force by jailers.
Ding, Ding, Ding! Hold you cards; we have a winner. The court went with that complaint. Bye-bye summary judgement for the defendants. Three weeks later the case settled. Should have remembered the song.
Louis Armstrong – When You’re Smiling Lyrics
Songwriters: Joe Goodwin, Larry Shay, Mark Fisher
When you smilin’, when you smilin
The whole world smiles with you.
Yes when you laughin’ oh when you laughin’
The sun comes shinin through.
But when you cryin’, you bring on the rain
So stop your sighin baby, and be happy again
Keep on smilin, keep on smilin baby,
And the whole world smiles with you
Oh when you’re smilin’ keep on smilin’
The whole world smiles with you
Ah when you’re laughin’ keep on laughin’
The sun comes shinin’ through
Now when you’re cryin’ you bring on the rain
So stop that sighin’ be happy again
Keep on smilin Cause when you’re smilin’
And the whole world smiles with you
The great big world will smile with
The whole wide world will smile with you
When You’re Smiling lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
